SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY AND VOICETHREAD

 Here is a link to a VoiceThread I made for helping my students with further practice on dividing whole numbers by unit fractions.

https://voicethread.com/myvoice/thread/28367638

CONSTRUCTIVIST LEARNING THEORY, TEACHING, AND LEARNING

 

        In an article by Melinda Kolk she speaks to the connection between the modern classroom and constructivism (Kolk, 2023). She talks about Jean Piaget’s philosophy that education should prepare students to create, rather than just regurgitate or copy (Kolk, 2023). Teaching from a constructivist angle is not only beneficial to kids, but is becoming easier to implement as technology progresses.

        In Walden University's Constructivism in practice video examples of this kind of learning are shown, with students participating in several project-based learning assignments, with the most time spent discussing a student project to create a containment system for an oil spill (Walden University, 2016). Project-based learning is a great way to address ISTE standard 2.5.b for teachers about designing authentic learning activities (International Society for Technology in Education, 2016). Even so, sometimes I worry that a project like this slows learning down. Afterall, a teacher could probably give a lecture in a single day that covers most of what students will learn about oil spills over the course of their project. The problem is that students do not effectively absorb information from listening to a lecture. Also, topical learning is becoming more and more irrelevant. Memorizing facts is of little use to the 21st century learner, when they can search for information in an instant. 

        Pitler, Hubbell, and Kuhn talk about the importance of students generating and testing hypotheses, not only in Science, but in other school subjects as well (Pitler et al., 2012, p.204-205). They also say, “Technology plays a vital role in generating and testing hypotheses because new developments in probeware and interactive applets allow students to spend more time interpreting data rather than gathering data” (Pitler et al., 2012, p.205). They go on to say that gathering data can be, “tedious and error prone” (Pitler et al., 2012, p.205). Again the emphasis is on developing collaboration and problem solving skills for students rather than engaging in the some of the tedious parts of learning that are no longer relevant for today's learner. 

        The most important takeaway from the oil spill project is not what the students will learn about oil spills, but what they will learn about collaboration and problem solving skills. Both of these skills are emphasized in the student ISTE standards, specifically standard 1.7.c and 1.5.c (International Society for Technology in Education, 2016). The teachers in the video emphasize this over and over again as they talk about how students learn cooperation skills and how to listen to each other (Walden University, 2016). When I implement my Genius Hour lesson I want to borrow from this, and emphasize the development of the soft skills my students will need for a 21st century workplace.

References

Ah-Nam, L., & Osman, K. (2017). Developing 21st century skills through a constructivist-constructionist     learning environment. K-12 Stem Education, 3(2), 205-216.

International Society for Technology in Education. (2007). ISTE standards for students. 

    Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/standards/iste-standards/standards-for-students

International Society for Technology in Education. (2016). ISTE standards for teachers.                Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/standards/iste-standards/standards-for-teachers

Kolk, M. (2023). A Constructivist Classroom is a 21st-Century Classroom. Creative Educator.

    Retrieved June 6, 2024, from https://www.thecreativeeducator.com/2023/articles/constructivist-now

Pitler, H., Hubbell, E. R., & Kuhn, M. (2012). Using technology with classroom instruction that     works (2nd ed.). Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Walden University, LLC. (Producer). (2016c). Constructivism in practice [Video file]. Baltimore,     MD: Author.

COGNITIVE LEARNING THEORY, GRAPHIC ORGANIZERS, AND VIRTUAL FIELD TRIPS

I created a virtual field trip for ch.13 of my 5th grade Social Studies curriculum, which covers the American Revolution. This virtual field trip takes students inside an American Revolution battle reenactment, where they can observe the sites and sounds.

• Virtual Field Trip
• Graphic Organizer Master Copy
• Graphic Organizer Student Example

Students were given the graphic organizer, asked to view the 360 VR battle, and make observations about the similarities and differences between the British Army and the Continental Army. 

BEHAVIORIST LEARNING THEORY, INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES, AND TECHNOLOGY TOOLS

    Behaviorism is the theory that human behavior is learned through positive and negative stimuli (Orey, 2001, p.271). In school this equates to teaching children how to function through rewards and consequences (Orey, 2001, p.271). If overly utilized this can be problematic, but I find it hard to imagine an effective classroom that does not utilize some of this theory. Michael Orey says, “I have found that a behavior that goes unrewarded will be extinguished” (Orey, 2001, p.276). On a most basic behaviorist level I want to at least make sure I acknowledge good behavior in my class to encourage that it continues. 

    Behaviorism is all about feedback and while feedback is essential for kids, and technology can give quick feedback to students, Laura Moorhead argues that the type of feedback students receive matters (Moorhead, 2014). She says to, “skip educational software that offers only simple ‘correct’ or ‘wrong’ responses,” and recommends programs like ASSISTments that give students more targeted feedback (Moorhead, 2014). This kind of learning specifically targets ISTE Student Standard 1.1c (International Society for Technology in Education, 2016). The standard says, “Students use technology to seek feedback that informs and improves their practice and to demonstrate their learning in a variety of ways” (International Society for Technology in Education, 2016).

    I use Google Forms for math assignments that instantly grade student work and let them know if they’ve made a mistake or not, but this would fall into the category of the kind of feedback Moorhead is advising to pass on. I am curious about using something like ASSISTments to give better feedback. I have used Khan Academy in the past, which gives students hints and offers tutorial videos to students when they make a mistake, but I have rarely seen students fully capitalizing on these feedback tools. I wonder if they simply need better instruction on how to troubleshoot a wrong answer and use their resources. As a teacher there is only so much feedback I can give to students, so I definitely want to explore how to give students more meaningful feedback with technology. Working to incorporate technology with more feedback for students would fit nicely into standard 2.1.a of the ISTE standards for teachers, which states, “Set professional learning goals to explore and apply pedagogical approaches made possible by technology and reflect on their effectiveness” (International Society for Technology in Education, 2016). 

    

    For the discussion this week I found a scholarly article and a popular article on Behaviorism. The scholarly article I found compared behaviorism to constructivism (Sidney, 2015). I think this is a helpful comparison. The article seemed to consider behaviorism a more traditional approach to education, comparing it to how you would teach a dog a new trick, while constructivism represents more modern thinking on learning, with students learning through creation (Sidney, 2015) While there are benefits to utilizing both models, I think the back and forth is helpful. 

    The popular article I found was a post from Psychology Today (Behaviorism). The post was an intro to behaviorism and touted the belief that behaviorism practices could be used to teach basic concepts or behavior, but would become ineffective for more critical thinking (Behaviorism). Both of the posts I found were more or less an introduction to behaviorism. After reading more about behaviorism I have questions about how it would fit into a more student led activity like Genius Hour. Hour of Code on the other hand seems to lean into a basic behaviorism approach. Most of those tutorials operate on a simple reward and quick feedback approach to learning. Students quickly learn what to do or not to do. Learning more about Behaviorism helps me continue to think about how I can balance student led constructivism and teacher led or technology led behaviorism. Both are helpful and I do not believe that true learning can happen with either one completely missing. 

References

Behaviorism. (n.d.). Psychology Today. Retrieved May 26, 2024, from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/behaviorism

International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE). (2016a). Standards for students. Retrieved from https://www.iste.org/standards/iste-standards-for-students

International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE). (2016b). Standards for teachers. Retrieved from https://www.iste.org/standards/for-educators

Moorhead, L. (2014, September 3). There’s no app for good teaching. Retrieved from http://ideas.ted.com/theres-no-app-for-good-teaching/

Orey, M. (Ed.). (2001). Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. Retrieved from https://textbookequity.org/Textbooks/Orey_Emergin_Perspectives_Learning.pdf

Sidney, P. F. (2015). Evaluating a behaviorist and constructivist learning theory for 21st century learners.

REFLECTION ON THE IMPACT OF TECHNOLOGY

 

Many of the activities in this course have helped me reexamine how I use technology in the classroom and have given me new ideas for technology use. Using a blog or a wiki in my class had never even occurred to me before, but now I have gotten the chance to use a wiki with my class, and I will continue to examine how I can use both again in the future. I appreciated this course’s emphasis on putting students in the role of creatore. Will Richardson talks about how transformation is not about what technology we introduce into the classroom, but instead about empowering students to learn freely, getting rid of some of antiquated and restraining aspects of the traditional structures of school (Richardson, 2010, p.23-24).

One Web 2.0 tool that I am open to using, but have not used yet is blogging. I think it would be very powerful to use as a tool for teaching writing. The knowledge that someone else will read your work and publishing something in a more official way has power to up the ante for students as they write. 

I would like to set a SMART goal around incorporating blogging in my class. Over the next two years I want to find an area of my writing curriculum to incorporate blogging, maybe just for free writing or possibly reflecting on learning in some way. By the end of next school year I want my students to have written at least three posts on a blog they have created, and have commented on another student’s blog at least once.

Another SMART goal I would like to set is to have my students create a podcast using WeVideo, since that is a platform they already use. Two years from now I want my students to have made at least one podcast for an assignment. 

Using technology in the classroom is also critical to make sure students have the skills they need for a 21st century work environment. Too often the structure of school teaches students outdated skills, how to sit still, be quiet, and memorize facts. These three skills, in particular the last one, will be of little use to students in their future careers. Two of the biggest skills they will need, that schools should shift their focus to, is collaborating and creating over technology. Richardson gives the example of Wikipedia as the type of collaborative digital creation students have instored for themselves in the future (Richardson, 2010, p.55-57). Wikipedia could never have been created individually, but through digital collaboration a massive project like this was completed and continues to grow. Richardson gives the example of using Quadblogging to help introduce your students to this type of digital collaboration, where students from four different schools can interact and share with each other (Richardson, 2010, p.44). It is this type of digital collaboration we must continue to push for in the classroom. 

References

Richardson, W. (2010). Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms (3rd

ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.

Richardson, W. (2015). From master teacher to master learner. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree

Press.

Teaching Writing With Blogs

I am making a plan to use blogs for writing in my classroom. Blogs can help students improve their writing. Knowing other people will read their writing can be a motivating factor for students when writing in a blog as opposed to just turning in an essay (Sullivan, 2014, p.393). I think some type of research based writing would work well, since students will already be working digitally, which lends itself well to research. In my current curriculum I teach a research based persuasive writing unit, which would lend itself well to writing in a blog format. 

Blogs also give teachers a chance to collaborate with students digitally. The ISTE Standards for Teachers says teachers should, “Use collaborative tools to expand students' authentic, real-world learning experiences by engaging virtually with experts, teams and students, locally and globally" (International Society for Technology in Education, 2016). As a teacher I will be able to give students feedback in a flexible and prompt way. Writing through blogs also helps teachers step out of being a simple conveyor of knowledge and into the more complex role of facilitator, pushing students to drive the learning and critical thinking of the classroom. The ISTE Standards for Teachers emphasizes fostering a student ownership of learning in this way. 

The ISTE Standards for students talk about collaborating on a global scale, stating, “Students use digital tools to connect with learners from a variety of backgrounds and cultures, engaging with them in ways that broaden mutual understanding and learning” (International Society for Technology in Education, 2016). Using a blog will give students a chance to collaborate on a global scale like this. The standards also talk about students curating information (International Society for Technology in Education, 2016). Creating an online blog gives students a perfect medium for researching online and learning through creating a product rather than just absorbing new information from a teacher. 

References

International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE). (2016b). ISTE standards for educators Retrieved from https://www.iste.org/standards/for-educators 

International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE). (2016a). ISTE standards for students. Retrieved from https://www.iste.org/standards/for-students

Sullivan, M., & Longnecker, N. (2014). Class blogs as a teaching tool to promote writing and student interaction. Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 30(4).

Introduction

Hi, my name is Mark Sonnen. This is my twelfth year of teaching. My first teaching job was teaching 5th grade at a bilingual school in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. After that I taught 7th grade math in Grand Junction, Colorado for five years, and most recently I have been teaching 5th grade again for the past four plus years in northern Colorado. I will be posting here with updates on my new learning for my Impact of Technology on Education, Work, and Society course. One of the big ways I currently use technology is by utilizing Google Classroom. I post a lot of Google assignments through Google Forms, Google Docs, and Google Slides. This helps me keep my class organized, reduce use of paper, and give quicker feedback. I am curious to explore new uses of technology in the classroom throughout this course.